The Philippines The Philippines Official name: Republic of the Philippines Area: 300,000 square kilometers (115,800 square miles) Highest point on mainland: Mount Apo (2,954 meters/9,692 feet) Lowest point on land: Sea level Hemispheres: Northern and Eastern P.M. = noon GMT Longest distances: 1,851 kilometers (1,150 miles) from south-southeast to north-northwest, 1,062 kilometers (660 miles) from east-northeast to west-southwest Land boundaries: None Coastline: 36,289 kilometers (22,499 miles) Territorial sea limits: Determined by treaty and irregular in shape, extending up to 185 kilometers (100 nautical miles) from shore in some locations 1 LOCATION AND SIZE The Philippines is an archipelago in southeastern Asia, located between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. With an area of about 300,000 square kilometers (115,800 square miles), the country is slightly larger than the state of Arizona.

The Philippines is divided into seventy-three provinces. 2 TERRITORIES AND DEPENDENCIES The Philippines has no outside territories or dependencies. 3 CLIMATE The Philippines has a tropical maritime climate with two seasons. From November through April, the northeast monsoon brings rain, and from May through October, the southwest monsoon brings cool, dry weather. The average temperature is 27°C (80°F) with a range between 23°C and 32°C (73°F and 90°F). Humidity averages 77 percent. The annual average rainfall varies from 96 to 406 centimeters (38 to 106 inches). The northern islands are often heavily affected by seasonal typhoons, which cause destructive winds and flooding rains. 4 TOPOGRAPHIC REGIONS The very complex and volcanic origin of most of the Philippine islands is visible in their varied and rugged terrain. A number of the volcanoes are still active. Mountain ranges divide most of the island surfaces into narrow coastal strips and low-lying interior plains or valleys. The islands are subject to flooding and destructive earthquakes.

5 OCEANS AND SEAS Seacoast and Undersea Features All of the waters surrounding the Philippines are branches of the Pacific Ocean. The eastern coast of the Philippines faces the Philippine Sea, where the Philippine Trough (Emden Deep) plunges to 10,430 meters (34,219 feet). The northwest coast faces the South China Sea. The southwest surrounds the Sulu Sea on three sides. The Celebes (Sulawesi) Sea is in the south, between the island of Mindanao and the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The Bohol Sea is to the north of Mindanao. The Visayan Sea is encircled by Panay, Masbate, Cebu, Negros, and other islands. The Sibuyan Sea meets southern Luzon and eastern Mindoro. The Camotes Sea lies between Cebu, Leyte, and Bohol. The Samar Sea is between Samar and Masbate. Sea Inlets and Straits There are countless straits between the Philippine islands. Principal among them are the San Bernadino Strait and Verde Island Passage, both of which permit ocean travel across the northern part of the archipelago.

The Surigao Strait allows travel between the Pacific and the Bohol Sea in the south. The Mindoro Strait lies between Mindoro and the Calamian Group of islands. A number of channels north of the country make up the Luzon Strait, separating that island from Taiwan. Islands and Archipelagos The Philippine Archipelago contains about 7,100 islands and extends over 1,609 kilometers (1,000 miles) from north to south. Only 154 of the islands exceed 13 square kilometers (5 square miles) in area. The two largest islands, Luzon in the north and Mindanao in the south, comprise about 65 percent of the total land area of the archipelago. The largest of the Philippine islands, Luzon, has an area of 104,687 square kilometers (40,420 square miles). The main part of the island is roughly 402 kilometers (250 miles) in length and has a width from between 120 and 160 kilometers (75 and 100 miles). Just south of Luzon lies Mindoro.

This island is largely mountainous and has high peaks rising above 2,438 meters (8,000 feet). Coastal lowlands lie to the east and northeast of the mountain zone. Southwest of Mindoro is the Calamian Group of islands, with the long, narrow island of Palawan beyond them. Over eleven hundred smaller islands and islets surround Palawan. Over half of the islands that make up the country belong to the Visayan group, forming a rough circular pattern around the Visayan Sea. They include the seven large, populated islands of Masbate, Samar, Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, Panay, and Negros, plus numerous islets. The long narrow island of Cebu is the site of the country's largest copper mine and also produces low-grade coal and limestone used for cement. Mindanao, the second largest of the Philippine Islands, has an area of 94,630 square kilometers (36,537 square miles). In the east of the island, the Agusan River runs between two mountain ranges.

To the southwest of those ridges, several rivers meet in the Cotabato Basin and mountain peaks lead to the Bukidnon-Lanao Plateau. West of the Plateau, the island narrows to an isthmus ten miles wide, from which the long Zamboanga Peninsula protrudes to the southwest. The peninsula is covered largely with mountains and possesses limited coastal lowlands. Southwest of the Zamboanga Peninsula of Mindanao is the Sulu Archipelago, a string of smaller islands of volcanic and coral origin protruding from a submarine ridge. The Sulu Archipelago stretches for about 322 kilometers (200 miles) and has over eight hundred islands. Its three principal islands are Basilan, Jolo, and Tawi-Tawi. Coastal Features Lingayen Gulf indents Luzon's western coast. Further south is Manila Bay, which is surrounded by the Bataan Peninsula. The capital city of Manila is located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay. Tayabas Bay and Ragay Gulf surround the Bondoc Peninsula of Luzon's southern coastline. The southeastern extension of Luzon ends in the Sorsogon Peninsula.

North of the peninsula on the east coast is Lamon Bay; further north are Dingalan Bay and Escarpada Point. Mindanao's very irregular shape is characterized by a number of sizable gulfs and bays and several large peninsulas that give it an extremely long coastline. Mindanao's northernmost point is the Surigao Peninsula, with Butuan Bay to its west. Iligan Bay makes a deep indentation, creating a narrow isthmus that connects the large Zamboanga Peninsula to the rest of Mindanao. Sibuguey and Baganian Peninsulas protrude from the south coast of the Zamboanga Peninsula on Moro Gulf, with Pagadian Bay on the south of the isthmus and Illana Bay continuing the southwest coast. Sarangani Bay indents the coast just above its southernmost part, Tinaca Point. North of that point is Davao Gulf, defined by Cape San Agustin. Among the Visayan Islands there are two large gulfs: Leyte in the southeast and Panay in the west. 6 INLAND LAKES The largest lake in the Philippines is the freshwater Laguna de Bay, located on Luzon, southeast of Manila Bay.

It has a water surface of 922 square kilometers (356 square miles). Lake Taal, which has an active volcano in its center, lies a few miles to the southwest of Laguna de Bay. Other crater lakes are Lake Danao and Lake Balinsasayan in southeast Negros. On Mindanao, atop the Bukidnon-Lanao Plateau, is Lake Sultan Alonto (formerly Lake Lanao). The second-largest lake in the country, it covers 347 square kilometers (134 square miles). The shallow Lake Buluan is in Mindanao, south of the Plateau. The lowland of Mindoro contains Lake Naujan, one of the country's larger lakes, home to many fish and bird species. 7 RIVERS AND WATERFALLS In general, the larger rivers of the Philippines are navigable for only short distances. Most main streams and their tributaries are subject to extensive and damaging floods during the heavy rainfall of typhoons and the monsoon seasons. The Cagayan River is located in the Cagayan Valley of northern Luzon. It flows northward and empties into the sea at Aparri.

A network of rivers and streams interlaces the low-lying Central Luzon Plain. Two of the plain's more important rivers are the Agno, which flows northward into Lingayen Gulf, and the Pampanga, which empties into Manila Bay. The short Pasig River flows through the city of Manila. Two large rivers are found on Mindanao. The Agusan River is the longest in the country, with a length of 386 kilometers (240 miles). It flows northward through the Agusan Valley into the Bohol Sea. The Mindanao River and its tributaries drain the Cotabato Lowland, emptying into Moro Gulf. On Palawan, the St. Paul Underground River is a popular destination for adventurous tourists. At its mouth lies a small bay connecting it to the ocean. Accessible only by canoe, the river flows through a large cavern inhabited by bats and filled with stalagtites. 8 DESERTS There are no desert regions in the Philippines. 9 FLAT AND ROLLING TERRAIN The Central Luzon Plain, barely above sea level, has extensive swamps along the north of Manila Bay and the Candaba Swamp.

The low Ragay Hills overlook Ragay Gulf on the Bicol Peninsula of southeastern Luzon. To the south on Samar, the terrain is broken up by rocky hills, which are 152 to 305 meters (500 to 1,000 feet) high. In central Bohol there is a 52-square-kilometer (20-square-mile) area known as the Chocolate Hills. There are 1,268 individual mounds in the Chocolate Hills, each one between 50 and 200 meters (164 and 656 feet) high; these hills are covered in grass, which turns brown in the dry season. Although their origin has not been determined; scientists speculate they were formed from eroded coral limestone. Hill areas also exist on Panay and nearby Guimaras, as well as on Masbate, Tablas, and Romblon. DID YOU KNOW? There are four "Wetlands of International Importance" in the Philippines, as designated under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

These are: Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, which includes rare swamp forest and peat forest; Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary, a shorebird habitat; Naujan Lake National Park; and Tubbataha Reefs National Marine Park. The mountain rice terraces of northern Luzon's Cordillera are an UNESCO World Heritage site. Built by the indigenous Ifugao people over the last two millennia, the terraces follow mountain contours over 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) high, creating an agricultural landscape that is both productive and harmonious with nature. Savannahs, mixing grasslands and scrub woods, are found in Luzon's Cagayan Valley, and amid the hills of Mindoro, Negros, and Masbate, as well as on Panay, and on Mindanao's Bukidnon-Lanao Plateau. 10 MOUNTAINS AND VOLCANOES All of the Philippine Islands are volcanic in origin. As a result, the country is very mountainous. The northern part of Luzon Island is extremely rugged. Luzon's highest peak, Mount Pulog, rises to 2,934 meters (9,626 feet).

The island has three mountain ranges that run roughly parallel in a north-south direction. A range in the east, the Sierra Madre, runs so close to the island's eastern shore that there is hardly any coastal lowland. The valley of the Cagayan River separates this eastern range from a large mountain complex to the west, the Cordillera Central. On the west, the Zambales Mountains extend southward and terminate at Manila Bay. Southeastern Luzon consists of a large peninsula. It is a mountainous and volcanic area containing the active volcano, Mount Mayon (2,420 meters/7,941 feet). The large island of Mindanao has five major mountain systems, some of which were formed by volcanic action. The eastern edge of Mindanao is highly mountainous; this region includes the Diuata Mountains, with several elevations above 1,828 meters (6,000 feet), and the southeastern ranges, which reach a high point of 2,804 meters (9,200 feet). In central Mindanao there is a broad mass of rugged mountain ranges, one of which bisects the island from north to south.

This range contains Mount Apo (2,954 meters/9,692 feet), the highest peak in the country, which overlooks Davao Gulf. Most of the islands are located on the Eurasian Tectonic Plate, but a major fault line extends along the eastern part of the archipelago, aligned over the boundary with the Philippine Plate. As part of the western-Pacific "Ring of Fire," the Philippines have thirty-seven volcanoes, of which eighteen are active. 11 CANYONS AND CAVES Many of the Philippines's rivers have carved canyons through the mountains. Particularly deep canyons cut through the BukidnonLanao Plateau of Mindanao. Pagsanjan Gorge National Park, southeast of Manila on Luzon, is a river gorge with each of its steep faces towering to a height of 91 meters (300 feet). 12 PLATEAUS AND MONOLITHS The central mountain complex of Mindanao extends into the northwest corner of the island, terminating in the Bukidnon-Lanao Plateau.

At approximately 609 meters (2,000 feet) in elevation, the plateau is interspersed with extinct volcanic peaks. On southeast Negros, the volcanic rock Tablas plateau rises 152 to 305 meters (500 to 1,000 feet.) 13 MAN-MADE FEATURES There are no major man-made structures affecting the geography of the Philippines. 14 FURTHER READING Books Broad, Robin, and John Cavanagh. Plundering Paradise: The Struggle for the Environment in the Philippines . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. Davis, Leonard. The Philippines: People, Poverty, and Politics . New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987. Olesky, Walter G. The Philippines . New York: Children's Press, 2000 Wernstedt, Frederick. The Philippine Island World . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967. Web Sites Mariana Trench Facts and Location By Jennifer Kennedy Updated February 17, 2016. The Mariana Trench (also called the Marianas Trench ) is the deepest part of the ocean.

This trench lies in an area where two of the Earth's plates - the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Plate - come together. The Pacific plate dives under the Philippine plate, which also partially gets pulled along (read more about this collision under oceanic-oceanic convergence here ). It is also thought that water can be carried with it, and may contribute to strong earthquakes by hydrating rock and lubricating the plates, which might lead to a sudden slip. There are many trenches in the ocean, but because of the location of this trench, it is the deepest. The Mariana Trench is located in an area of old seafloor, made up of lava, which is dense and causes the seafloor to settle further. Plus, since the trench is so far away from any rivers, it does not get filled with sediment like many other oceanic trenches, which also contributes to its extreme depth. continue reading below our video What are the Seven Wonders of the World Where Is the Mariana Trench? The Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and about 120 miles east of the Mariana Islands.

In 2009, President Bush declared the area surrounding Mariana Trench as a wildlife refuge, called the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument , which covers approximately 95,216 square miles - you can see a map here . How Big is the Mariana Trench? The trench is 1,554 miles long and 44 miles wide. The trench is more than 5 times wider than it is deep. The deepest point of the trench, which is known as the Challenger Deep - is almost 7 miles (over 36,000 feet) deep and is a bathtub-shaped depression. The trench is so deep that at the bottom, the water pressure is eight tons per square inch. What Is the Water Temperature in the Mariana Trench? The water temperature in the deepest part of the ocean is a chilly 33-39 degrees Fahrenheit - just above freezing. What Lives in the Mariana Trench? The bottom of deep areas like the Mariana Trench is composed of an "ooze" made up of the shells of plankton .

While the trench and areas like it haven't been fully explored, we know that there are organisms that can survive at this depth, including bacteria, microorganisms, protists ( foraminifera , xenophyophores , shrimp-like amphipods , and possibly even some fish. Has anyone been to the bottom of the Marianas Trench? The short answer is: yes. The first trip to the Challenger Deep was made by Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in 1960. They didn't spend much time at the bottom, and couldn't see much as their sub kicked up too much sediment, but they did report seeing some flatfish. Voyages to the Mariana Trench have been made since then to map the area and collect samples, but humans had not been to the deepest point in the trench until 2012. In March 2012, James Cameron successfully completed the first solo, human mission to the Challenger Deep. Read more about the next steps and scientific analysis of his findings here .

References and Further Information: Philippine-American War - Wikiquote Philippine-American War Jump to: navigation , search The Philippine-American War was a conflict beween the armed forces of the United States and insurgent groups like in the Philippines from 1899 through 1913. This theme article needs cleanup . Please review Wikiquote:Templates , especially the standard format of theme articles , to determine how to edit this article to conform to a higher standard of article quality. You should also check this article's talk page to see if the person who added this message left an explanation there. This page has been listed as needing cleanup since 2006-03-04 . Contents American Justification[ edit ] President McKinley told Congress that his inspiration for invading the Philippines came in a dream from God. "Hold a moment longer! Not quite yet, gentlemen! Before you go I would like to say just a word about the Philippine business. I have been criticized a good deal about the Philippines, but don’t deserve it. The truth is I didn’t want the Philippines, and when they came to us, as a gift from the gods, I did not know what to do with them.

When the Spanish War broke out Dewey was at Hongkong, and I ordered him to go to Manila and to capture or destroy the Spanish fleet, and he had to; because, if defeated, he had no place to refit on that side of the globe, and if the Dons were victorious they would likely cross the Pacific and ravage our Oregon and California coasts. And so he had to destroy the Spanish fleet, and did it! But that was as far as I thought then. When I next realized that the Philippines had dropped into our laps I confess I did not know what to do with them. I sought counsel from all sides—Democrats as well as Republicans—but got little help. I thought first we would take only Manila; then Luzon; then other islands perhaps also. I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night.

And one night late it came to me this way—I don’t know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them back to Spain—that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany—our commercial rivals in the Orient—that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves—they were unfit for self-government—and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died.

[1] And then I went to bed, and went to sleep, and slept soundly, and the next morning I sent for the chief engineer of the War Department (our map-maker), and I told him to put the Philippines on the map of the United States (pointing to a large map on the wall of his office), and there they are, and there they will stay while I am President!-- President William McKinley . [2] for American energy to build up such a commercial marine on the Pacific Coast as should ultimately convert the Pacific Ocean into an American lake, making it far more our own than the Atlantic Ocean is now Great Britain's Whitelaw Reid , part of the commision sent to Paris to negotiate the Treaty of Paris to end the Spanish-American War . Start of the war[ edit ] "The fighting … was precipitated by … two native soldiers who refused to obey the order of a sentry who challenged their passage to his post.... They insolently refused to [halt] and continued to advance," so the sentry shot them. [3] " About eight o’clock, Miller and I were cautiously pacing our district. We came to a fence and were trying to see what the Filipinos were up to.

Suddenly, near at hand, on our left, there was a low but unmistakable Filipino outpost signal whistle. It was immediately answered by a similar whistle about twenty-five yards to the right. Then a red lantern flashed a signal from blockhouse number 7. We had never seen such a sign used before. In a moment, something rose up slowly in front of us. It was a Filipino. I yelled “Halt!” and made it pretty loud, for I was accustomed to challenging the officer of the guard in approved military style. I challenged him with another loud “halt!” Then he shouted “halto!” to me. Well, I thought the best thing to do was to shoot him. He dropped. If I didn’t kill him, I guess he died of fright. Two Filipinos sprang out of the gateway about 15 feet from us. I called “halt!” and Miller fired and dropped one. I saw that another was left. Well, I think I got my second Filipino that time..."--Private William W. Grayson, with another soldier, encountered three armed Filipinos on a bridge in San Juan del Monte near Manila. [5] "The slaughter at Manila was necessary, but not glorious.

The entire American population justifies the conduct of its army at Manila because only by a crushing repulse of the Filipinos could our position be made secure....We are... the trustees of civilization and peace throughout the islands"...the "white man's burden" had been thrust on the United States by "the impotent oppression of Spain and the semi-barbarous conduct of the Philippines." "fighting, having begun, must go on to the grim end." -- General Elwell S. Otis response when Emilio Aguinaldo tried to stop the war by sending an emissary to General Otis to appeal for an end to the fighting. American torture and atrocities against Filipinos[ edit ] Military officers[ edit ] General Jacob H. Smith 's infamous order "KILL EVERYONE OVER TEN" was the caption in the New York Journal cartoon on May 5, 1902. The Old Glory draped an American shield on which a vulture replaced the bald eagle. The bottom caption exclaimed, "Criminals Because They Were Born Ten Years Before We Took the Philippines." "I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn the better it will please me.

I want all persons killed who are capable of bearing arms in actual hostilities against the United States.” General Jacob H. Smith said. Since it was a popular belief among the Americans serving in the Philippines that native males were born with bolos in their hands, Major Littleton "Tony" Waller asked "I would like to know the limit of age to respect, sir?." [7] I personally strung up thirty-five Filipinos without trial, so what was all the fuss over Waller's "dispatching" a few "treacherous savages"? If there had been more Smiths and Wallers , the war would have been over long ago. Impromptu domestic hanging might also hasten the end of the war. For starters, all Americans who had recently petitioned Congress to sue for peace in the Philippines should be dragged out of their homes and lynched.-- Colonel Frederick Funston at a banquet in Chicago. [11] "One-sixth of the natives of Luzon have either been killed or have died of the dengue fever in the last few years. The loss of life by killing alone has been very great, but I think not one man has been slain except where his death has served the legitimate purposes of war.

It has been necessary to adopt what in other countries would probably be thought harsh measures."--General James Bell , May 3, 1901, New York Times explaining why one-sixth of the population of Luzon had died in the previous two years of the Philippine insurrection. Also see the wikisource page: Anti-Imperialist League pamplet: Soldiers' Letters Being Materials for the History of a War of Criminal Aggression publishing scores of letters from soldiers admitting attrocities. "We take no prisoners. At least the Twentieth Kansas do not."--Arthur Minkler, of the Kansas Regiment [15] "It makes me sick to see what has been said about him (General Jacob H. Smith ). If people knew what a thieving, treacherous, worthless bunch of scoundrels those Filipinos are, they would think differently than they do now. You can't treat them the way you do civilized folks. I do not believe that there are half a dozen men in the U.S.

army that don't think Smith is all right."-- Smith's medical officer Politicans[ edit ] "The severity with which the inhabitants have been dealt would not look well if a complete history of it were written out" -- Governor-General of the Philippines , William Howard Taft , concerning the U.S. Army campaign on the island of Marinduque during the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902 [17] "You have sacrificed nearly seventeen thousand American lives—the flower of our youth. You have devastated provinces. You have slain uncounted thousands of the people you desire to benefit. You have established reconcentration camps. Your generals are coming home from their harvest bringing sheaves with them, in the shape of other thousands of sick and wounded and insane to drag out miserable lives, wrecked in body and mind. You make the American flag in the eyes of a numerous people the emblem of sacrilege in Christian churches, and of the burning of human dwellings, and of the horror of the water torture. Your practical statesmanship which disdains to take George Washington and Abraham Lincoln or the soldiers of the Revolution or of the Civil War as models, has looked in some cases to Spain for your example.

I believe—nay, I know—that in general our officers and soldiers are humane. But in some cases they have carried on your warfare with a mixture of American ingenuity and Castilian cruelty. Your practical statesmanship has succeeded in converting a people who three years ago were ready to kiss the hem of the garment of the American and to welcome him as a liberator, who thronged after your gay men when they landed on those islands with benediction and gratitude, into sullen and irreconciliable enemies, possessed of a hatred which centuries can not eradicate." -- Senator George Hoar . From a speech in the United States Senate in May, 1902 chastizing the Philippine-American War and the three Army officers, including General Jacob H. Smith who were court-martialed. [18] "You never hear of any disturbances in Northern Luzon ; and the secret of its pacification is, in my opinion, the secret of the pacification of the archipelago. They never rebel in Northern Luzon because there isn't anybody there to rebel. The country was marched over and cleaned out in a most resolute manner. The good Lord in heaven only knows the number of Filipinos that were put under ground.

Our soldiers took no prisoners, they kept no records; they simply swept the country, and, wherever or whenever they could get hold of a Filipino, they killed him. The women and children were spared, and may now be noticed in disproportionate numbers in that part of the island."--From a Republican Congressman, who visited the Philippines during the summer of 1901 Boston Transcript , March 4, 1902 [19] "Until recently, I had thought that these things (torture) were sporadic and isolated, but I have been forced to the belief that they are but a part of the general plan of campaign." --Senator Joseph Lafayette Rawlins of Utah Philippine Question Up In The Senate, New York Times May 7, 1902 p.

3 [20] Newspaper reporters[ edit ] The present war is no bloodless, fake, opera bouffe engagement; our men have been relentless, have killed to exterminate men, women, children, prisoners and captives, active insgurgents and suspected people from lads of ten up, the idea prevailing that the Filipino as such was little better than a dog, a noisome reptile in some instances, whose best disposition was to the rubbish heap. Our soldiers have pumped salt water into men to make them talk, and have taken prisoners people who held up their hands and peacefully surrendered, and an hour later, without an atom of evidence to show that they were even insurrectors, stood them on a bridge and shot them down one by one, to drop into the water below and float down, as examples to those who found their bullet-loaded corpses. It is not civilized warfare, but we are not dealing with civilized people. The only thing they know and fear is force, violence, and brutality, and we give it to them. A reporter for the Philadelphia Ledger , Nov. 19, 1900 Later in the article he stipulated that such tactics were necessary and long overdue.

[21] In some sections our people have adopted the policy of giving no quarter, and we are getting reports of insurgent bands of from ten to fifty being surrounded and every man killed. Young had one killing of 318 lately, and J. M. Bell a killing of 156, while there have been several ranging from 50 to 100. New York Evening Post reporter "The time has come, in the opinion of those in charge of the War Department, to pursue a policy of absolute and relentless subjugation in the Philippine Islands. If the natives refuse to submit to the process of government as mapped out by the Taft Commission, they will be hunted down and will be killed until there is no longer any show of forcible resistance to the American government. The process will not be pleasant, but it is considered necessary."-- Boston Advertiser Contemporary commentary[ edit ] "In many letters there is an eerie contrast between the writers' disregard for the slaughter of Filipino goo-goos and their concern for the health of their parents and friends.

William Eggenberger described with boyish glee an incident in which he and a fellow private had terrorized the inhabitants of a nipa hut by sticking their bayonets through the side of the house. He then concluded his letter with the request: "Don't you and the old man work so hard all the time… hoping these lines will find you all in the best of health, a kiss for you all."--Richard E. Welch, Jr., a professor of history at Lafayette College Water torture[ edit ] "The water cure is an old Filipino method of mild torture. Nobody was seriously damaged whereas the Filipinos had inflicted incredible tortures on our people." -- President Theodore Roosevelt [24] "A man is thrown down on his back and three or four men sit or stand on his arms and legs and hold him down; and either a gun barrel or a rifle barrel or a carbine barrel or a stick as big as a belaying pin, -- that is, with an inch circumference, -- is simply thrust into his jaws and his jaws are thrust back, and, if possible, a wooden log or stone is put under his head or neck, so he can be held more firmly.

In the case of very old men I have seen their teeth fall out, -- I mean when it was done a little roughly. He is simply held down and then water is poured onto his face down his throat and nose from a jar; and that is kept up until the man gives some sign or becomes unconscious. And, when he becomes unconscious, he is simply rolled aside and he is allowed to come to. In almost every case the men have been a little roughly handled. They were rolled aside rudely, so that water was expelled. A man suffers tremendously, there is no doubt about it. His sufferings must be that of a man who is drowning, but cannot drown. … I did not stop it, because I had no right to.... Major Geary was about sixty yards away. -- Lieutenant Grover Flint ; S. Doc.

331, 57 Congressional 1 Session (1903), page 1767-1768 "A company of Macabebes enter a town or barrio, catch some man, -- it matters not whom, -- ask him if he knows where there are any guns, and, upon receiving a negative answer, five or six of them throw him down, one holds his head, while others have hold of an arm or a leg. They then proceed to give him the "water torture," which is the distension of the internal organs with water. After they are distended, a cord is sometimes placed around the body and the water expelled. From what I have heard, it appears to be generally applied; and its use is not confined to our section. Although it results in the finding of a number of guns, it does us an infinite amount of harm. Nor are the Macabebes the only ones who use this method of obtaining information.

Personally, I have never seen this torture inflicted, nor have I ever knowingly allowed it; but I have seen a victim a few minutes afterward, with his mouth bleeding where it had been cut by a bayonet used to hold the mouth open, and his face bruised where he had been struck by the Macabebes. Add to this the expression of his face and his evident weakness from the torture, and you have a picture which once seen will not be forgotten. I am not chickenhearted, but this policy hurts us. Summary executions are, and will be, necessary in a troubled country, and I have no objection to seeing that they are carried out; but I am not used to torture. The Spaniards used the torture of water, throughout the islands, as a means of obtaining information; but they used it sparingly, and only when it appeared evident that the victim was culpable. Americans seldom do things by halves.

We come here and announce our intention of freeing the people from three or four hundred years of oppression, and say, "We are strong, and powerful, and grand." Then to resort to inquisitorial methods, and use them without discrimination, is unworthy of us, and will recoil on us as a nation."-- George Kennan [25] "We have a company of Macabebe scouts who go out with white troops, and, if they cannot get any guns voluntarily, they proceed to give the fellows the water cure; that is, they throw them on their backs, stick a gag in their months to keep it open, then proceed to fill them with water till they cannot hold more. Then they get on them, and a sudden pressure on the stomach and chest forces the water out again. I guess it must cause excruciating agony."--Unnamed officer [30] "Extending the Blessings of Civilization to our Brother who Sits in Darkness has been a good trade and has paid well, on the whole; and there is money in it yet, if carefully worked--but not enough, in my judgment, to make any considerable risk advisable.

The People that Sit in Darkness are getting to be too scarce--too scarce and too shy. And such darkness as is now left is really of but an indifferent quality, and not dark enough for the game. The most of those People that Sit in Darkness have been furnished with more light than was good for them or profitable for us. We have been injudicious... Is it, perhaps, possible that there are two kinds of Civilization--one for home consumption and one for the heathen market?"-- Mark Twain , "To the Person Sitting in Darkness" "God damn the U.S. for its vile conduct... We can destroy their [Filipino] ideals but we can't give them ours."-- William James , on American annexation of the Philippines and the guerrilla war it engendered.

[31] "If we turn this war, which was heralded to the world as a war of humanity, in any sense into a war of conquest, we shall forever forfeit the confidence of mankind."-- Carl Schurz , reform journalist and senator "The United States has lost her unique position as a leader in the progress of civilization and has taken up her place simply as one of the grasping and selfish nations of the present day."-- Charles Eliot Norton [32] "They rely mostly on large sales, and for large sales on sensational news. Now nothing does so much to keep sensational news coming in over the considerable period of time as war... Next to war they welcome the Promise of war."--E.L. Godkin, editor of The Nation [33] "The Cost of a National Crime," "The Hell of War and Its Penalties," "Criminal Aggression"--titles of three pamphlets sent by Edward Atkinson , a founder of the Anti-Imperialist League, to American troops in the field in the Philippines, as a test of free speech. Postmaster Charles Smith declared the pamphlets "seditious" and had them removed from the mail.

[34] "If all these imaginings are in vain, and our success is a rapid and bloodless one as the most sanguine can hope, such a victory is more dangerous than defeat. In the intoxication of such a success, we would reach out for fresh territory, and to our present difficulties would be added an agitation for the annexation of new regions which, unfit to govern themselves, would govern us. We would be fairly launched upon a policy of military aggression, of territorial expansion, of standing armies and growing navies, which is inconsistent with the continuance of our institutions. God grant that such calamities are not in store for us."-- Moorfield Storey , president of the Anti-Imperialist League [38] "Whether we like it or not, we must go on slaughtering the natives in English fashion, and taking what muddy glory lies in wholesale killing til they have learned to respect our arms. The more difficult task of getting them to respect our intentions will follow." [39] "It is against the interests of the United States to have the fruits of Dewey's victory gathered by insurgents....

No native dictatorship or so-called republic is wanted until the United States fixes on its Philippine policy When a flag replaces the blood-and-fear ensign of Spain, it should be our flag. Afterward there will be enough time to discuss native problems." [42] “The Philippines are ours forever.... And just beyond the Philippines are China’s illimitable markets. We will not retreat from either. We will not repudiate our duty in the archipelago. We will not abandon our opportunity in the Orient. We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee under God, of the civilization of the world. The Pacific is our ocean... . Where shall we turn for consumers of our surplus? Geography answers the question. China is our natural customer...The Philippines give us a base at the door of all die East...No land in America surpasses in fertility the plains and valleys of Luzon. Rice and coffee, sugar and cocoanuts, hemp and tobacco...The wood of the Philippines can supply the furniture of the world for a century to come.

At Cebu the best informed man on die island told me that 40 miles of Cebu's mountain chain are practically mountains of coal...I have a nugget of pure gold picked up in its present form on the banks of a Philippine creek...My own belief is that there are not 100 men among them who comprehend what Anglo-Saxon self-government even means, and there arc over 5,000,000 people to be governed. It has been charged that our conduct of the war has been cruel. Senators, it has been the reverse...Senators must remember that we are not dealing with Americans or Europeans. We are dealing with Orientals.”-- Senator Albert J. Beveridge January 9, 1900 See wikisource.org for Beveridge's full speech . [49] "There is no question that our men do 'shoot niggers' somewhat in the sporting spirit, but that is because war and their environments have rubbed off the thin veneer of civilization...Undoubtedly, they do not regard the shooting of Filipinos just as they would the shooting of white troops.

This is partly because they are "only niggers," and partly because they despise them for their treacherous servility...The soldiers feel they are fighting with savages, not with soldiers."--H.L. Wells New York Evening Post . [50] "Our troops in the Philippines...look upon all Filipinos as of one race and condition, and being dark men, they are therefore 'niggers,' and entitled to all the contempt and harsh treatment administered by white overlords to the most inferior races."-- Boston Herald correspondent in the Philippines. [51] "The unfortunate misunderstanding between American and Filipino," was explained with an allegory about a man, a boy, and an apple. When the man sees the fruit just out of the boy's reach, he first gives the youth a boost, but then decides to grab the fruit for himself. When the boy fights for the apple, he gets only a spanking for his trouble. "From the Filipino point of view that is about the situation of Aguinaldo and his followers with reference to the Americans. They actually thought … that they would be able to maintain their own independence." [54] "Today the torrid zone is a belt of semibarbarism.

Its inhabitants resist the civilization of the temperate zones instinctively, because they know they have not the mental and moral fiber to uphold it.... Climate and costless sustenance have made these people what they are, and no great intellectual and industrial advance can be expected until the conditions are changed." [55] How "strange" it was that "such an easy, slumbering, happy-go-lucky race … should have such turbulent politics." No one in the Philippines except the Japanese had "the least idea of how to make machinery do the work of man." --Unnamed American Merchant [56] "However lacking in intelligence the natives of the Philippines generally may be, they could not in truth be characterized as savages.... The islands' leading tribe, the Tagals are as industrious as the Chinese and Japanese, and more easily controlled and less annually disposed than the latter." [59] Filipinos are "treacherous, arrogant, stupid and vindictive, impervious to gratitude, incapable of recognizing obligations. Centuries of barbarism have made them cunning and dishonest. We cannot safely treat them as equals, for the simple and sufficient reason that they could not understand it. They do not know the meaning of justice and good faith.

They do not know the difference between liberty and license.... These Filipinos must be taught obedience and be forced to observe, even if they cannot comprehend, the practices of civilization." [60] "The trouble is not what [U.S. negotiators] propose, but to whom they propose it. They have treated, as a government capable of negotiation, a bedizened ragtag and bobtail.... The deference with which these people have been received, the long conferences in which their "views" have been seriously entertained and discussed, the grandeur in which they have been allowed to parade before their compatriots--all these have inflated their simian vanity." [61] (The definition of "simian" is relating to, characteristic of, or resembling an ape or a monkey.) "the American soldier viewed his Filipino enemies with contempt because of their short stature and color. Contempt was also occasioned by the refusal of the Filipino 'to fight fair'- to stand his ground and be shot down like a man. When the Filipino adopted guerrilla tactics, it was because he was by his very nature half-savage and half-bandit.

His practice of fighting with a bolo on one day and assuming the guise of a peaceful villager on the next proved his depravity."--Richard E. Welch, Jr., a professor of history at Lafayette College [69] "I will not say that the men who are encouraging the Filipino soldiers here are traitors to their country,but I will say, and I think with justice, that the men who are shooting from ambush there are allies in the same cause, and both are enemies to the interest and credit of our country."--Secretary of War Elihu Root [70] "What said Lawton-Lawton, Indiana's pride? "If I am shot down by a Filipino bullet it might as well come from one of my own men beause the continuance of the fighting is cheifly due to reports that are sent out from America." Who will wear this on his forehead, the everlasting brand which Lawton's words burn? I am merely stating the truth...I state the facts.

The defeat of the opposition to the government here is the defeat of the opposition to the government there." --Senator Albert Beveridge See Vaughan; New York Herald ^ Aguinaldo: A Narrative of Filipino Ambitions (1901), Wildman, Edwin, Norwood Press; Bautista, Veltisezar The Filipino Americans (From 1763 to the Present)(2002), Bookhaus ISBN: 0931613175; The Philippine-American War (1899-1902) ; Excerpts from: The Filipino Americans (From 1763 to the Present) ^ See Vaughan; Chicago Times-Herald ; "The Third Battle of Manila," Literary Digest 18 (1899): 180. ^ See Miller, p. 220; PBS documentary "Crucible of Empire" ; Philippine NewsLink interview with Bob Couttie author of "Hang the Dogs, The True and Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre" Ten days after President McKinley’s death, the residents of Balangiga , a tiny village 400 miles southeast of Manila , attacked the local U.S. garrison.

While U.S. soldiers ate breakfast, the church bells rang a signal. Filipinos brandishing machetes emerged from their hiding places. Forty-eight Americans, two-thirds of the garrison, were butchered, in what is called the Balangiga massacre . On the orders of General Jacob H. Smith , U.S. troops retaliated against the entire island (600 square miles) of Samar where Balangiga is located. The exchange is known because of two courts-martials: one was of Waller who was later court-martialed for ordering or allowing the execution of a dozen Filipino bearers, and the court-martial of Gen. Jacob H. Smith who was actually court-martialed for giving that order. They jury is out to the extent that order was carried out, because Littleton Waller actually countermanded it to his own men and said "[Captain David] Porter, I've had instructions to kill everyone over ten years old. But we are not making war on women and children, only on men capable of bearing arms. Keep that in mind no matter what other orders you receive." Undoubtedly, some men did attrocities regardless of Waller's commands. ^ See Miller, p.

234-235, New York Sun March 10, 1902; Monthly Review ; "Kipling, the ‘White Man’s Burden,’and US Imperialism" , November 2003 ^ See the full document on wikisource: Soldiers Letter's during the Philippine-American War ; Philippine History Group of Los Angeles The Balangiga Massacre: Getting Even ^ See Miller, p. 236 ^ See Miller, p. 94; San Fransisco Call , August 28, 1899; F. Luzviminda, "The First Vietnam: The Philippine-American War," Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, December, 1973, p. 4; History Lesions ^ See Miller, p. 121 ^ An imperial moment: in previous times of war fever, clear voices have called for a return to U.S. ideals,The Nation, December 23, 2002, No. 22, Vol. 275; Pg. 16 ^ Salt Lake City Tribune editorial, 1899; Quoted in Chomsky, Noam, Turning the Tide : U.S.

Intervention in Central American and the Struggle for Peace, South End Press, 1986, ISBN 0896082679 ^ New York Tribune editorial, 1899; See Chomsky, p. 162 ^ See Vaughan; San Francisco Chronicle , 10 June 1898. ^ See Vaughan; "The Third Battle of Manila," Literary Digest 18 (1899): 180. ^ See Vaughan; Munsey's Magazine 21 (1899): 704-5 ^ See Miller, p. 147. This quote is from 1900, Senator Chauncey Depew spoke at Carnegie Hall , to support Theodore Roosevelt ’s candidacy for vice-president. Depew was celebrating the conquest of the Philippines as a beginning of the American penetration of China. ^ Congressional Record, Senate, 56th Congress, 1st session, Jan. 9, 1900, 704–712; See Zinn, page 314 ^ See Miller, p.

147; San Francisco Call , September 21, 1900 ^ See Miller, p. 147; New York Sun , June 24, 1900 ^ See Miller, p. 119 ^ See Miller, p. 119 To classify this "peaceful penetration," David Starr Jordan coined the term "permeation". ^ See Miller, p. 154; Springfield Republican , March 15, 1901, Literary Digest 31 (1900):365; Philippine Investigating Committee/Lodge Committee Report ^ See Miller, p. 153; Public Opinion 30 (1901):326 ^ See Vaughan; Worthington C. Ford, "Trade Policy with the Colonies," Harper's New Monthly Magazine 99 (1899): 293. ^ See Vaughan; Oscar K. Davis, "Today In the Philippines," Munsey's Magazine 21 (1899): 1934. ^ See Vaughan; "The Prizes of Victory," Munsey's Magazine 19 (1898): 544.

^ See Vaughan; The Nation 66 (June 23, 1898): 476. ^ See Vaughan; "High Civilization in the Philippines Impossible," Literary Digest 17 (1898): 243. ^ See Vaughan; San Francisco Chronicle , 5 June 1898. ^ Philippines Map / Geography of Philippines / Map of Philippines - Worldatlas.com Print this map Positioned on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean , along the Ring of Fire , the Philippines is the second-largest archipelago in the world, with over 7,100 individual islands counted within its borders. With a population of 103,775,002, The Philippines became an independent state in 1946. The history of the Philippines begins with its first inhabitants arriving via primitive boats nearly 67,000 years ago. Various tribes roamed the islands until small kingdoms began establishing roots during the first millennium. For several centuries there was no unifying power within the Philippine archipelago, as the islands were controlled by various sultans. Ferdinand Magellan arrived in 1521, and placed the islands under Spanish ruling.

Colonization was quick to follow, and the first European settlements began to pop up in 1565. For hundreds of years the Philippines were a Spanish colony, but were ceded to the U.S. in 1898, after the Spanish-American War. The Philippines became one of the main focal points of battles between Japan and the U.S. during World War II, and at the end of the war (in 1946) with the U.S. victory in the South Pacific , the Philippines attained total independence. During their early years as a new country, the Philippines faced various challenges, and had to be almost completely rebuilt following the devastation brought on by World War II. Ferdinand Marcos was elected president in 1965, and toward the end of his second term, after being constitutionally barred from obtaining a third, he declared martial law. The dictatorial government of Ferdinand Marcos ended in 1986. Since then, a long parade of electoral presidential problems and internal struggles have been ongoing. In addition, Abu Sayyaf, an armed Muslim insurgency group operating in the south, has collectively plagued the country for many years, and is now causing serious disruptions, especially in western tourism visits.

On June 25, 1991, Mount Pinatubo violently erupted, severely weakening the already strained economy. The volcano's eruption marked the second largest of the 20th century, and its effects were felt worldwide. In 1992, after many years of negotiations, the U.S. finally closed its last military bases on the islands, and (in the view of many), the Philippines lost much needed revenue from that action. To further add to their problems, decades of intensive logging, inequitable land distribution, agricultural expansion and failed policies, have caused severe deforestation and land degradation. The government has established more than 270 protected areas covering over 10 million acres. Forest conservation areas encompass approximately six million acres. Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in recorded history, decimated parts of the Philippines in November, 2013. More than 6,000 people were killed and over four million lost their homes. The government has played a powerful role in spearheading the recovery. Tourism has begun to flourish again with most of the visitors arriving from the U.S. , Japan , South Korea and Europe .

See Also 10 Deepest Points in the ocean on Earth Home > Geography > 10 Deepest Points in the ocean on Earth 10 Deepest Points in the ocean on Earth Deepest Points located in the different part of the oceans on earth, the deepest are explored and still exploring by the explorer, there might be unknown or unexplored deepest point exist on earth than Mariana trench the deepest point on earth. Oceanic trenches in the ocean are long but narrow topographic depressions on the sea floor the deepest parts of the ocean floor. The Pacific Ocean has around 50,000km of convergent plate margins and most of the deepest point located around this place. Geographical activities created deep trenches beneath the ocean that thousands of feet in depth which could part of the deepest point. The Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean are the deepest oceans that holds all 10 deepest points on earth. 10. Atacama Trench The Atacama trench is also known as the Peru-Chile Trench is approximately 5,900km long with a mean width of 64km and covered some 590,000 km2.

The trench is a result of a convergent boundary, defines the boundary between the subducting Nazca Plate and the South American Plate. Maximum depth: 8,065 meters Location: Eastern Pacific Ocean, about 160 km off the coast of Peru and Chile. 9. South Sandwich Trench A deep arcuate trench in the South Atlantic Ocean that is created by subduction and is the deepest trench in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. The South Sandwich islands near the trench constitute a volcanic island arc which results from the active volcano of Mount Belinda and Montagu Island. Maximum depth: 8,428 meters Location: 55°40’S, 025°55’W, 122km northeast of Zavodovski Island 8. Puerto Rico Trench The trench located on the boundary between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The zone is earthquake occurring and could generate a significant tsunami. The trench is 800km long and deepest point spotted at Milwaukee Deep, and also deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean. Maximum depth: 8,648 meters Location: Between Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean 7.

Japan Trench It is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire lie on the northern Pacific Ocean off northeast Japan, the trench believed created when the oceanic pacific plate subducts beneath the continental Okhotsk Plate. The tsunamis and earthquakes are the causes that continuing movement on the subduction zone with the Japan Trench. Maximum depth: 9,000 meters Location: between Kuril Islands and Bonin Islands, northern japan, Pacific Ocean 6. Izu-Ogasawara Trench It is lying in the western Pacific Ocean stretched from Japan to the north and also the extended of the Japan Trench, the Pacific plate being subduction below the Philippine Sea plate which created the Izu islands and Bonin Islands with the deepest point. Maximum depth: 9,780 meters Location: South of Japan, Western Pacific Ocean. 5. Kermadec Trench It is created by the subduction of the Pacific plate under the Indo-Australian Plate, with thousands of kilometer parallel with the island arc and it noted for its very abrupt slope. The trench first descents have been in 2012 by Deep-sea researchers and discovered new species of giant amphipod.

Maximum depth: 10,047 meters Location: South of Japan, Western Pacific Ocean. 4. Kuril–Kamchatka Trench Also known as the Kuril trench formed as a result of the late Cretaceous that created a Kuril island arc and the volcanic arc. The zone is the major earthquake occurred in the recent decades, lies off the southeast coast of Kamchatka. Maximum depth: 10,500 meters Location: Off the southeast coast of Kamchatka, northwest Pacific Ocean. 3. Philippine Trench The Philippine trench’s deepest point named the Galathea Depth the 3rd deepest in the world, spreads in length of 1,320km and 30km wide lies in the east of the Philippines. This is created by the collision of tectonic plates and the Philippine Sea is subducting under the Philippine Mobile belt at 16cm per year. Maximum depth: 10,540 meters Location: Northern Maluku island of Halmahera in Indonesia. 2.

Tonga Trench The trench is standing alone in the South Pacific Ocean, the depth known as the Horizon Deep, is the 2nd deepest point on earth lies at the northern end of the Kermadec Tonga Subduction Zone. The tonga leads north-northeast from the Kermadec islands north of the North Island of New Zealand. Maximum depth: 10,882 meters Location: 4500 from center of Australia, South Pacific Ocean. 1. Mariana Trench The deepest point on the planet with the depth of 11.03 kilometers below sea level and lies in the western Pacific Ocean, about 2,550km in length and an average width of 69km. The earth is radius although not a perfect sphere which 25 km less at the poles than at the equator, so the Mariana trench is not closest point to the center of the Earth, the Arctic ocean seabed are around 13 km closer to the center of the earth.

Maximum depth: 11,033 meters Deepest Undersea Volcano: Pacific Ocean - ABC News ABC News Deepest Undersea Volcanic Eruption Ever Seen By Clayton Sandell Star National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The eruption produces a bright flash of hot magma that is blown up into the water before settling back to the seafloor. In the foreground is the front of the Jason remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) with sampling hoses. The area in view is about 6-10 feet across in an eruptive area approximately the length of a football field that runs along the summit. 0 Shares Email Scientists today unveiled rare video of the deepest underwater volcanic eruption ever seen, at a site where scorching 2,500-degree lava explodes into cold seawater nearly a mile below the ocean surface . "It was very exciting. We've never seen anything like that on the ocean floor," said Bob Embley, a marine geologist at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Newport, Oregon. The West Mata volcano was discovered below the Pacific Ocean in an area between Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. It is six miles long and four miles wide, rising one mile from the sea floor.

The top of the volcano sits 4,000 feet below the surface of the water. Play null Last May, scientists on board the research ship Thomas Thompson deployed a remote-controlled vehicle called Jason to get close to the rumbling volcano as it ejected molten bubbles of lava three feet across. Embley described the scene as "an underwater Fourth of July." Samples collected near the volcano showed the seawater to be highly acidic , similar to battery or stomach acid, researchers said. Despite the harsh conditions, scientists found and photographed a species of shrimp apparently thriving near the volcanic vents. SLIDESHOW: New Species In Antartica "Nobody would have predicted that things would have survived long enough in water that acidic. It seems like it's too harsh a condition," said University of Washington chemical oceanographer Joseph Resing. The volcano is spewing a type of lava known as Boninite, which until now had only been seen in extinct volcanoes more than a million years old. 'A Very Rare Thing' "Most of the eruptions on Earth happen underwater, and you would think by now we would have seen one. It's a very rare thing that we've never seen flowing molten lava until now," said Resing, the mission's chief scientist.

SLIDESHOW: Under the Sea: Marine Life Census Scientists hope deep-ocean eruptions can tell them more about how the planet recycles heat and matter at the friction points where Earth's tectonic plates meet. They also hope to learn more about how carbon dioxide and sulfur gases cycle through the ocean. Volcano a Mile Beneath the Pacific The National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration paid for the research, which is being presented at the American Geophysical Union's annual science meeting in San Francisco. Play null West Mata lies within the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where volcanoes are common. In the Philippines , authorities are moving 30,000 people away from the danger zone near the erupting Mayon volcano. 0 Shares Philippines Facts, Philippines Flag -- National Geographic Philippines Facts Flag Map The Philippines, in southeastern Asia, consists of 7,107 islands lying between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The islands of Luzon and Mindanao account for two-thirds of the land area. Even though the Philippines lies just north of the world's largest Muslim state, Indonesia, it is about 94 percent Christian—mostly Roman Catholic.

About five percent of Filipinos are Muslim, mostly living on the islands of Mindanao and Palawan—islands closest to the Muslim countries of Malaysia and Indonesia. In 1521 Ferdinand Magellan claimed the Philippines for Spain, which ceded the islands to the U.S. in 1898. Independence came in 1946, after Japanese occupation ended. Widespread poverty and political corruption sparked social unrest starting in the 1970s. In 1986 President Ferdinand Marcos was compelled to hold an election. Despite his fraudulent claim to victory, Marcos was forced into exile, and Corazon Aquino, widow of a murdered opposition leader, became president. The government continues to make progress in negotiations with Muslim rebels with a cease-fire in 2003, and it works to provide political representation and economic development to the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

ECONOMY Industry: Textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, wood products Agriculture: Rice, coconuts, corn, sugarcane; pork; fish Exports: Electronic equipment, machinery and transport equipment, garments, coconut products —Text From National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition How the Mariana Trench Became Earth's Deepest Point How the Mariana Trench Became Earth's Deepest Point Heavy lava, tectonic movements shaped the 7-mile-deep abyss. View Images The Mariana Trench (pictured in a video still of an illustration) is the deepest place on Earth. Video still courtesy of NOAA James Cameron made headlines last month by successfully diving 6.8 miles (11 kilometers) to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench in a one-person submersible called the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER. (See "Cameron Exclusive: After Record Dive, Why Go Back to Mariana Trench?" ) Related Content Rare Ruby Seadragon Caught on Video for First Time Best known as a Hollywood director and now a National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence , Cameron is one of just three people to dive to Earth's deepest point, and the only one to be able to stay long enough to look around.

( Video: Cameron Dive Is an Exploration First. ) Though Cameron and his team are hoping to discover more about the biology of the Mariana depths, geologists already know a lot about how the Mariana Trench formed—and why it's Earth's deepest spot. (Related: "James Cameron on Earth's Deepest Spot: Desolate, Lunar-Like." ) Ancient Lava Shaped Mariana Trench The Mariana Trench isn't really the deep, narrow furrow that the word "trench" implies. Rather, the abyss marks the location of a subduction zone. Subduction zones occur where one part of the seabed—in this case the Pacific plate—dives beneath another, the Philippine plate. Though tectonic forces eventually warp the Pacific plate so that it makes a near-vertical dive into the Earth's interior, at seabed level the plate dips at a relatively gentle angle. A tectonic plate is a huge hunk of rock, 60 miles (97 kilometers) or more thick, said Robert Stern , a geophysicist at the University of Texas, Dallas.

"In order for this to sink back into the earth, it has to bend downward, and these are very gentle bends." One reason the Mariana Trench is so deep, he added, is because the western Pacific is home to some of the oldest seafloor in the world—about 180 million years old. Seafloor is formed as lava at mid- ocean ridges. When it's fresh, lava is comparatively warm and buoyant, riding high on the underlying mantle. But as lava ages and spreads away from its source, it slowly cools and becomes increasingly dense, causing it to settle ever lower—as is the case with the Mariana Trench. Mariana Trench Could Trigger Big Quakes? Two other factors conspire to make the 1,580-mile-long (2,550-kilometer-long) Mariana Trench staggeringly deep. For one, the trench lies far from any major landmass, which means it's remote from the mouths of muddy rivers. "Many other deep trenches are more filled with sediment," Chris Goldfinger , director of the Active Tectonics and Seafloor Mapping Laboratory at Oregon State University, said in an email.

"This one isn't." In addition, nearby fault lines cut the Pacific plate into a narrow tongue at the site of the trench, allowing the plate to bend more steeply downward than at other subduction zones. Because of this orientation, most scientists thought that the Mariana Trench subduction zone wouldn't be a source of major earthquakes, said geophysicist Emile Okal of Northwestern University. That's because the dense rock of the Pacific Plate at the site of the trench should not press strongly upward against the overriding Philippine plate, creating the friction that would cause earthquakes. But the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and the 2011 Japan earthquake "killed" that theory by occurring in other, similar places where giant temblors weren't expected, Okal said by email. So there's no reason to believe the Mariana Trench region couldn't produce an earthquake of perhaps magnitude 8.5, he said.

"There are two events [in the region] known to have generated local tsunamis in 1826 and 1872." Cameron Dive a "Man on the Moon" Feat Despite Cameron's record dive, it's impossible to know what really happens in the subduction zone, since most of the action occurs up to 420 miles (700 kilometers) below Earth's surface. (See plate-tectonics pictures .) (The dive was part of the DEEPSEA CHALLENGE program, a partnership with the National Geographic Society and Rolex. The Society owns National Geographic News.) "That's the iceberg," the University of Texas's Stern said, in reference to Cameron's movie Titanic. "Cameron wasn't even at the tip of it—11 kilometers out of 700. The trench is the interface between the limits of human experience and the reality humans can't experience." Even so, with subsequent dives, there's the prospect of retrieving rock samples and looking for life deeper than it's ever been found before. "Life in extreme environments is fascinating, and I think [that's] a big part of what motivated Cameron," said Oregon State's Goldfinger.

"Hopefully this new vehicle will lead to being able to do science effectively at those depths. I think it's really a mission of discovery at this point." UT's Stern agreed, calling Cameron's trip "kind of a man-on-the-moon thing." Comment on This Story

Question: The Philippines lie in which ocean?
Answer: Pacific Ocean